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Fatima Latifova

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Azerbaijan is among the top five countries in the world for land contamination by mines. While it was previously estimated that there were around one hundred thousand mines in the formerly occupied territories, it has become clear since the Second Garabagh War that this number exceeds one and a half million. The most extensive surveys were conducted in May in the four villages returned to Azerbaijan during the delimitation process.

These areas were also extensively mined. Azerbaijani deminers have conducted searches just 5-10 meters from Armenian posts. Unfortunately, mine explosions have occurred in these four villages during the process. The presence of mine problems in these four villages, returned to Azerbaijan with the Armenian government's consent, raises questions about the intentions of the Pashinyan administration.

Speaking to Azernews, political scientist Turab Rzayev gave an insight into the recent issues. In his comment, Rzayev said that the main issue here is the date when the mines were planted.

"We need to first determine when these mines were laid in the area. If they are mines from the 1990s, then Armenia should have genuinely shown goodwill. If Yerevan truly wants peace and cooperation, it should have provided Baku with the maps of the minefields," he noted.

He said that if the mines were planted more recently, this would be a more significant problem.

"If mines were planted just before the return of the villages to Azerbaijan, it demonstrates Armenia’s malicious intent, aiming to cause maximum damage to Azerbaijan rather than seeking peace and stability. This would prevent Azerbaijan from utilizing the land and could lead to civilian and military casualties," the expert added.

The political expert explained that another possibility is that mines were planted after the return of the villages.

"If mines were laid after the return of the four villages to Azerbaijan, this indicates that diversion groups may have entered Azerbaijani territory. In this case, Azerbaijan should raise serious concerns about Armenian provocations," he said.

Further to expert views, political analyst Asif Narimanli said that he believes that landmines were planted during negotiations between Azerbaijan and Armenia about four villages.

"There is a significant possibility that mines were planted in the four villages of Qazakh during the negotiations process. During the period when Garabagh was liberated, the Azerbaijani Army had given Armenian soldiers time to leave the area. During this period, new mines were planted, particularly in areas like Kelbajar that were handed over without combat. It is possible that after planting mines in the four villages of Gazakh, the area was handed over to Azerbaijan," he added.

The expert noted that this situation reflects Armenia's duplicity.

"Despite professing peace, Armenia is doing everything it can to undermine it. This seems to be a characteristic behavior. Just as they left a legacy of mine terror in Karabakh, they are doing the same in these areas," he said.

Asif Narimanli said that the goal here is to create maximum problems for Azerbaijan and delay the settlement of the population in the area.

"Over the past century, Armenia has pursued a policy of creating problems for Azerbaijan. The discovery of numerous mines and mine explosions in the four villages of Qazakh indicates that this policy and attitude remain unchanged.

In the future, the issue of mines should be a top priority. During the border delimitation and the return of other areas to Azerbaijan, Armenia must first hand over the mine maps. If the Armenian side evades cleaning the mines and providing the maps, Armenia should compensate Azerbaijan significantly for the mine problem."

Recall that despite attempts at formally requesting information about the location of those mines, Armenia repeatedly denied that it possessed the relevant information and refused to engage on the issue.

Finally, in February this year, Armenia submitted 8 minefield maps of territories located in the liberated lands to Azerbaijan. These maps cover some of the areas along the former contact line. However, the maps covering part of the former contact line passing through Khojavand, Tartar, and Goranboy districts, as well as the areas mined by Armenian military units when they retreated in November 2020, have not been submitted yet.

Many have suspicions about these maps because previous minefield maps submitted by Armenia were inaccurate. Only 25 percent of these maps were correct. Especially submitting minefield maps of the height where civilians do not live increases this suspicion. It is also worth noting that more than 55% of recent landmine cases have occurred outside the areas covered by the information provided.

The behavior that Armenia displayed in relation to the landmine threat is indeed another setback to the peace and confidence-building measures taken during the post-conflict period in the region.

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